Process of making fuel briquettes



v UNITED STATES GEORG PLOCHHANN,

PATENT OFFICE.

or rarmrz-scnoium gzncnosnovaxm.

PROCESS OF MAKING FUEL BRIGUET'I'ES.

Io Drawing. Application filed July 7, 1925, Serial No. 42,047, and in Czechoslovakia Kay 2, 1925.

The object of my invention is a process of making fuel briquettes which are resistant to the action of water or moisture, the invention being directed, more particular] to making eflicientbriquettes of high calorific value with a comparatively very small pro ortion ofbinding agent.

e invention aims firstly at so treatin the raw material, before it is actually moul ed,that strong and waterproof briquettes olly or largely without addition of solid or liquid bin ing can be made therefrom w agents, As will be explained hereinafter, the preliminary treatment varies somewhat accordin to the moisture content and structure of t e raw material.

With li 'tes of wood structure, where the cell fi res are. not yet-thoroughl carbonized, it has heretofore been found diflicult to obtain waterproof briquettes. The

I moisture content of such lignltes amounts often to from 40 to 55%, and the water is liable to be given ofi in air, causing crumbling of the material.

In modern processes of making briquettes, particularly where the older brown coals are used, strong preliminary drying is often applied, sometimes reducing the moisture content to 10% or even considerably less. My researches and tests have shownthat with younger brown coals, closely approx1-' mately to the lignite type, such thorough preliminary drying is distinctly to be avoided when waterproof briquettes are required. The more moisture is taken from the cells of lignitic brown coal, the more energetic is the subsequent absorption of moisture by capillarity. Then the particles swell and the cohesion inthe-briquette is weakened or destroyed. This may even occur if the moisture content was reduced only to the long es tablished figure of about 14 to 16%, unless special measures are taken. It is due to the fact that the still persistin cell structure is rendered capillary and the drying process.

According, to my invention, the appropriatel regulated preliminary drying is followed y exposure .of the material to gases or vapours of distillation, and then by pressing. 'For economy of heat, I arranged that the temperature to which the material is raised does not substantially exceed that at which or vapour,

ygroscopic by the moulding arid pressin can be effected. The gases issuing from t e material may be made use of in the rocess.

In accordance with t e considerations set forth with reference to lignitic materiall extract from the raw material by the reliminary drying operation only so muc of the water content as is necessar material adequately permea le and absorbent for the subsequent treatment with gasesand vapours, leaving, in the cells suflicient mo sture to prevent excessive hygroscopic action, accompanied by swelling. Tests made with material of ronounced lignitic character, such as founs in Germany and Bohemia, show that strong, waterproof bri 'quettes can be made therefrom when the moisture content has been reduced, by preliminarydrying, to about one-half, or some- .what less, of the moisture originally present.

The carbonaceous particles, deprived only of the appropriate proportion of their water content, are'then well permeated by the {gas and become charged or coated with the roduc'ts of condensation due to the cooling t ereof. A balanced condition, in 'regard to absorption and emission of moisure, brifiluette. 1 e general mode of procedure is as folows:'

The granular or powdered raw material, or raw material suitably broken up or divided for the purposes of the process, is

subjected to the preliminary drying o ration in open or v closed apparatus 0 approved type, the moisture content being duced to the degree indicated by the considerations set forth above. a

The material is then treated in separate apparatus, such as a gas generator, retort, rotary oven or other closed appliance, wherein it is exposed to gases or vapours of distillation, which may be evolved from material of the same kind or from other carbonaceous raw material, solid or liquid, or

from distillation products of such material, with a suitable bitumen content.

The gases or vapours are introduced, or

passed through, by pressure or suction, in

such a manner that they not only sweep over the briquettes material and coat it with condensation products, but are alsoable to peneto render the I may be said to be established in the I trate the pores and deposit tarry products from 600 to 1000 C.), but may use generator gas at a temperature so regulated that i the gas will heat the material (cooled after the preliminary drying) only to the temperature required for moulding and press- The gas or vapour introduced gives oil condensable products, as stated, which act as binding agents, and combustible gases issue from the apparatus. These are used for purposes of the process, more particularly for the preliminary drying, but also if convenient for generating fresh gases and vapours of distillation. Thus the process is in part a cyclic process, which renders it highly economical.

What I claim is 1. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from lignitic brown coals which have retained a woody structure, consisting 'in subjecting the raw material to a preliminary drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the moistureeontent is not reduced to a degree which renders the material actively hygroscopic, charging the cells and pores by treating the material with gases or vapours evolved by distillation of carbonaceous material having a suitable bitumen content, and finally pressing the material to form the briquettes.

2. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from lignitic brown coals which have retained a woody structure, consisting in dividing up the raw material and subjecting the raw material to a preliminary drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the moisture content is not reduced to a degree which renders the material actively hygroscopic,

charging the cells and pores by treating the material with gases or vapours evolved by distillation of carbonaceous material having a suitable bitumen content, and-finally pressing the material to form the briquettes.

3. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from lignitic brown coals which have retained a woody structure, consisting in dividing up theraw material and subjecting the raw material to a preliminary drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the moisture content is not reduced toa degree which renders the'material actively hygroscopic, passing into and through the material gases i or vapours evolved by distillation of carbonaccous material having a suitable biv passing into and through the material gases or vapours evolved by distillation of lignitic brown coal, and then pressing the material to form briquettes.

5. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from have retained a woody structure, consisting in dividing up ject-ing the raw material to a preliminary the raw material and sub-.

lignitic brown coals which drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the moisture content is not reduced to a degree which renders the material actively hygroscopic, passing into and through the material gases or vapours under pressure evolved by distillation of carbonaceous material having a suitable bitumen content, and finally pressing the material to form the briquettes.

. 6. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from lignitic brown coals which have retained a woody structure, consisting in subjecting the raw material to a preliminary drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the material becomes capable of absorbing gas or vapour but that the moisture content is not reduced to a degree which renders the material actively hygroscopic, charging the cells and pores by treating the material with gases orvapours evolved by distillation of carbonaceous material, and having a suitable bitumen content, and finally pressing the material to form the briquettes.

7. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes from lignitie brown coals'which have retained a woody structure, consisting in dividing up the raw material and subjecting the raw material to a preliminary drying operation which is so regulated in accordance with the structure and moisture content of the raw material that the mois ture content is not reduced to a degree which renders the material actively hygroscopic, passing into and through the material gases or vapours evolved by distillation of carbonaceous material having a suitable bitumen content, and, finally pressing the mate rial to form the briquettes, the gases or vapours being introduced at approximately the temperature required to raise the material to the temperature required for pressmg it.

8. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes as speclfied in claim 1 comprlsmg 5 using the combustible gas or fuel previously passed through the material for the preliminary drying of fresh raw material.

9. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes as specified in claim 2 comprising 10 using the combustible gas or fuel previously passed through the material for the preliminary drying of fresh raw material.

10. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes as specified in claim 3 comprising using the combustible gas or fuel previously passed through the material for the preliminary drying of fresh raw material.

11. The process of manufacturing fuel briquettes as specified in claim 4 and comprising using the combustible gas or fuel previously passed through the-material for the preliminary drying of fresh raw material.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

GEORG PLOCHMANN. 

